Hey, I haven't been here for a while... I've been busy studying for finals, I was going camping, also within the time I've been here like 5 people I know have had birthdays! so it's been a busy time and well... A bit too busy for me to clean Churro's 3 gallon... which I know is horrible of me to be too busy to care for my fish ): Well I'll stop babbling and get to the questions:

Housing What size is your tank? 3 gallons

What temperature is your tank? 78 F

Does your tank have a filter? No

Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No

Is your tank heated? Yes

What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food? Aqueon Betta Food

How often do you feed your betta fish? 1 pellet in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, 1 at night.

Maintenance How often do you perform a water change? Not for a really really long time... I'm not even gonna say how long it is (I feel so guilty) but lets just say, A WHILE. I'm planning on doing half changes every four days now, though.

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Just plain water conditioner and a very small amount of aquarium salt.

Water Parameters: Have you tested your water? No

Symptoms and Treatment How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Caudal fin has reduced to about 2 thirds of its original size, more ragged and choppy and darkened on the ends. Often clamped up... his anal fins and dorsal fins don't seem as bad. his ventral fin is quite damaged though. He's also overall not as bright in color as he used to be.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He usually just swims around slowly, but sometimes he'll just stay near the top and not do anything for a long time. also at times he zig zags along the glass while opening and closing his mouth quickly. usually he just swims around like normal though.

When did you start noticing the symptoms? It was just like a week ago when I realized how bad it was starting to get... I feel really bad.

Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes, as some of you know he was rescued from my classroom where he lived in a five gallon with a goldfish and he went up to 6 months with no water changes... He had fin rot when I got him but improved quickly when I put him in his new home... he has permanent gill damage though, unfortunately.

How old is your fish (approximately)? More than a year old probably.

Thank you guys... I know it was irresponsible of me to let it get this bad... I feel terrible but I'll do my best to help him heal up now (:

Well, akjadestar, it sounds like you know the cause of Churro's problems - the lack of water changes. So diagnosis is pretty easy, on to the solution: water changes!

For the moment, it sounds like Churro's been in some bad water for a while. The best thing to do is to get him into QT and fresh water. So if you have a small container, like the cup he came in from the pet store, put him in there with half of his old tank water. You'll want to float it in his tank so he can stay warm; you may need to put some saran wrap with holes poked in it to keep him from jumping out. Meanwhile, go ahead and do a 100% on his tank. Take a gallon of his new water and mix 1 tsp of aquarium salt in it. When it has dissolved pour some of the water into Churro's cup with him. Change the water in his cup every day for ten days and replace it with the salt water. If he hasn't shown any improvement, he may need stronger treatment so post for advice. If at any time, he gets worse and can no longer swim or has trouble breathing or getting to the surface, first lower the water level in his cup so he can reach the surface easier and then post for advice.

Once Churro is healthy and can go back to his 3g tank, do water changes like this: 50% and a 100% with gravel vacuuming every week. Don't add salt unless he is sick. Also, if you don't use it, you may want to consider using Seachem Prime as your water conditioner.

I hope Churro gets better soon for you. Try not to get too busy! Churro needs you as much as your human friends.

Thanks for your advice! but anyways, his cup is very small, it's one of those petsmart cups that they can barely move in, and I put him in there when I do water changes and he freaks out and flares a lot and I'm afraid of him hurting his fins more if he's constantly flaring...
I think I might have a bigger container I can use though... So let me clarify, I'm supposed to fill it up with halfway his old water, put him in the container, do a 100 percent change in his tank but take out a gallon of the new water, add the salt and wait until it dissolves, fill up the last half of the container with it, and then let him float in the tank, am I right?
Also when I change the water in his cup everyday, where does he go? do I just let him back in the tank for a few minutes?
thank you for the advice, I hope it works! I don't think his fin rot is too bad, I mean, his fins are a lot shorter now and all ragged edged and I'm hoping to see them regenerate a bit but I don't think he has anything eating at the fins anymore as he's acting really mellow and normal whereas he wasn't before.

Yeah, that sounds right. For the first day, having half of his old tank water will keep him from getting too shocked by all the salt. After that, it can be all salt water. And yes, you can release him back into the tank while changing the water in his cup. Fortunately, if you store the salt mixture, it won't be more than pouring the old out and the new in. If, though, he gets too stressed by being in a small cup, it might be better to try and treat him in his regular tank. Normally, you like to keep them from moving around too much so the fins have a chance to heal but it doesn't help if he flares them out all the time in the cup. ^_^ Actually, for future reference, a gallon drum bowl from Petco makes a decent QT tank. Then you can just dose the salt right in the tank. Just put a heater in and you're good to go.